Past Exhibitions>
The exchange between China and Japan has lasted for thousands of years. The exhibition of the works of the painter Koji Kinutani, who is active in the forefront of Japanese art circles, is one of the commemorative activities for the 40th anniversary of the conclusion of the Treaty of Peace and Friendship between Japan and China. Koji Kinutani, served as the head of the "Japan-China Tourism Cultural Exchange Group" which visited China in May 2015, has long been committed to China-Japan exchanges. The exhibition tries to explore the future of the relations between these two countries with the force of art in the long history. In the exhibition, a selection of masterpieces in the artistic career of Koji Kinutani along with his other works themed on China introduces the artist in three units.
Koji Kinutani was born near the Kofuku-ji temple in Nara, the ancient capital of Japan. Aspiring to become a painter, he studied at the Oil Painting Department at the Tokyo National University of Fine Art and Music, and graduated from the university's graduate school. In 1980, shortly after the Japan-China Peace and Friendship Treaty was concluded, Kinutani made his first trip to China and traveled Beijing, Xi'an and Dunhuang. In 1986, he traveled Shaolin Temple to create mural paintings on the walls of the temple. In 1993, he held special lectures on "Environmental Art" for one month at the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing as part of a cultural dispatch program of the Japan Foundation. In the same year, the "Japan-China Contemporary Oil Painting Exhibition" was held at the National Art Museum of China, exhibiting works by Chinese artists and Kinutani’s students from the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts. In 1997, Kinutani was commissioned to design the official poster for the Olympic & Paralympic Winter Games in Nagano and individual posters for seven different sports, including his work, “Ginrei no Megami (Goddess of the Silvery Peak).” In the same year, he visited China with Dan Ikuma as a member of the Japan Cultural Exchange Association delegation.
In 2006, as head of the Japanese delegation of the First Expo Central China held in Changsha, Hunan Province, Kinutani led a thousand people from Japan to China. In 2008, as a Special Advisory Board of the Tourism Agency in Beijing, he held the "Symposium for Attracting Tourists" and participated as a panelist at the "Gathering for Japan, Kansai and Nara" in Shanghai. In the same year, Kinutani met with President Hu Jintao in Nara, and succeeded in conducting the cultural project to take the statue of Ganjin Wajo of Nara Todai-ji temple back to its home country, China. In 2010, he was appointed as the director of the Japan Cultural Exchange Association. In the same year, he produced an LED ceiling painting "Flying Surya and Chandra" for the Japan Industry Pavilion at the Shanghai World Exposition. In 2011, he was invited as a guest artist for the Chengdu Biennale. Since 2000, Kinutani has accompanied Toshihiro Nikai of the Liberal Democratic Party of Japan on a grand mission to lead the Japanese delegation of 5000, 13000, and 25000 people to China. In 2014, Kinutani was accredited as Person of Cultural Merit. In 2015, he received the 66th NHK Broadcasting Culture Award (by the Japan Broadcasting Corporation). In the same year, he served as head of the "Japan-China Tourism Cultural Exchange Group" of 3,000 people. In 2017, the exhibition, "Koji Kinutani, A Journey of Color and Imagery" was held at the National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto. In the same year, he traveled to China as a member of the Ruling Party Economic delegation and met with President Xi Jinping of the People’s Republic of China, President Li Xiaolin of the Chinese People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries, and President Qiu Yong of Tsinghua University.
Kinutani is currently a professor emeritus of the Tokyo National University of the Arts and Music, a member of the Japan Art Academy and the Independent Society of Fine Art, and an Honorary Director of the Koji Kinutani Tenku Art Museum. As the director of the Japan-China Cultural Exchange Association, Kinutani continues his mission to promote mutual exchange between Japan and China.
